16 April 2012

Aesop’s Fables, Molecules and Physics

Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Curriculum; Guest Writer; Preschool.

Guest Writer: Amy Delph
edisonmom.blogspot.com

Education is not about compartmentalising curricula and subjects as if they were independent of each other. The good thing about homeschooling is the freedom to break down the walls of compartmentalization and integrate learning across curricula. Amy Delph shares how a simple reading and comprehension session with her preschoolers became a lesson about physics and chemistry.
——————————————————————————————————————————————

TODAY I THOUGHT WE DO SOME WORK on comprehension and critical discussion of a reading passage with Katelynn. I chose an Aesop fable, “The Crow and the Pitcher”, from Teaching with Aesop’s Fables. It started out innocently enough. I had Katelynn read the fable by herself, but what happened next blew me away.

In the fable the crow is unable to get a drink on a hot day from a pitcher, so he adds stones one by one until the water level rises enough for him drink. We started out talking about the moral, but the discussion quickly moved on to how the crow could get the water to rise.
Read on »

0 

2 July 2010

Using pretend play at home

Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Play; Preschool.

Homeschooling mom DJ shares  how she uses pretend play to teach Mandarin at home.  She wrote this on her blog:

“So last night, I decided to plan my own lesson plan. I wanted it to be fun. I took out one of the books I bought sometime ago called Literacy Play (under Language). I like the book because it uses pretend play (or dramatic play) to teach kids vocabulary. I think it is rather fun way to play.”

DJ goes on to write about the fun they all had pretending to be customer and hairdresser.

“Then I make a price list and a appointment time table for her. I also downloaded some clip art from the net, so that we can make name card.

“I also explained what is a hairdresser and what does she do, etc. After that, I took out the price list and we discussed about how much we should charged for each item. Den wrote down the price. Then I introduced the appointment time table. She wanted to open her shop from 10am-10pm because she has no husband and baby yet. I let her wrote down the time on the time table.”

Pretend play is a great way to engage young learners!  And as DJ has shown you can pick your ideas from anywhere and then adapt them – including language – to make learning fun.

Drop in at DJ’s blog My Journal, A Homeschooling Mom to read the rest of this story and pick up more tips from her older posts here.

Thanks DJ for sharing, and thanks also for letting me post your story here!

2 

14 May 2010

Not ready for kindy

Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Preschool.

I have always been deeply concerned with the undue haste to enrol young children in daycare and kindergartens. There are many reasons for the rush to put junior in playgroups and preschools, and these days children as young as 3 are being enrolled as if that’s the most natural thing to do.

Many parents do feel they have no choice because of the increasingly competitive society we live in. How else to ensure one’s kids have a better shot at success if not by starting them early in kindergartens and programmes to master skills in numeracy and literacy? Besides, double-income parents also need to park their kids somewhere while they are at work, and where better to do this than in a place where a child learns something ‘useful’?

Academic readiness and preschool academic learning are often points of contention, and even experts are at odds. One longitudinal study concludes that later academic achievement is predicated upon early mastery of math and language, and therefore the earlier the better for formal instruction. Others dispute this as insignificant benefits (or not lasting) and what’s more, these gains were made at the expense of social, emotional and even physical skill development.

Of course there are extenuating circumstances where the need for early learning is greater than the ability of some parents or caregivers to provide. In a broken home or where parents are disadvantaged or inhibited by illness or poverty, it is right to direct the child in need to a place where she finds holistic development and age-appropriate education. But for others, you will want to think again before packing your 3 or 4 year-old off to preschool or an academically oriented kindy. Ask yourself:

• Is it necessary? As parents, we need to consider if we really ‘can’t help it’ and if sending our kid to preschool or kindy is the better deal. We who are parents – moms and dads – are what our children need more than anything in the world. If so, then our children deserve our life’s investment, ie, our time and affection, and all that nurture spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical development. Pity the child who has nothing but her parents’ left-over moments to remember them by.

• Is it time? We know our children better than any other person and we should resist peer pressure and social conventions from dictating how our kids are to be raised. All children are different and not every child is developmentally ready at the same time. Even if research concludes that early learning skills ‘benefit’ young children, ask yourself: how is it better to place your child in the hands of a total stranger when you can home-preschool and teach junior yourself in the home? Besides, the early years of bonding and training will do your child a world of good.

• Is it something you can’t do? It has been said that some parents are simply not good with children and this is why the task of teaching is contracted out to professionals. Yet if parents love their children enough, they will only get better than when they started out as new moms and dads. If parenting is an art, a child is the canvas. What kind of lasting impression do you want to leave with your child then? For your child’s sake, don’t stop learning. Read, expand your horizons, talk to other parents, study, observe, and develop skills. Every small step you take in becoming a better mom or dad is a step ahead in the right direction.

[Saying NO to kindy: click on the PRESCHOOL:A RESPONSE tab to read more dissenting views]

4 

15 October 2009

All eyes on preschool education…

Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Child Development; Preschool.

Politics and by-elections grab so much of our attention some of us may have missed this remark by the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who is also our Education Minister. It appears the Ministry of Education is concerned that a mere 67% of children starting Year One have had a preschool education.

A news report had the DPM saying MOE was looking to increase preschool enrolment up to 87% by 2012. One way of doing it would be to make preschool education “a part of the education system.”

This was a follow-up to an off-the-cuff comment a month earlier that the Education Ministry may want all pre-schools to be absorbed into the national education system – take a deep breath now – to boost young children’s grasp of English.

“My idea is that we should make learning of English at pre-schools a thrust in the early education process,” he said.

Note that this came after the government announced it was reversing its 6-year old English for Science and Math policy.

It is not clear how preschool is to be absorbed into the school system or whether it would mean mandatory preschool for all Year One children; but it is this sort of news that raises red flags.

I’m sure the MOE means well. After all, the rest of the developed world is ahead of Malaysia with regard to education and we’re following their lead. Should preschool become mandatory, Malaysia would be in good company with countries that have lowered school starting age (England, Scotland, Netherlands) or have integrated early childcare and preschool education with compulsory primary schooling (Sweden, Greece, Northern Ireland). Sweden for instance is often held up as an exemplar with the highest quality of early childcare and preschool education offered by a state, including a well-developed after-school childcare system for school-age children (well, so UNICEF declares).

Is this supposed to make us feel good? It might interest some of you to know that I previously opposed  talks of mandatory preschool  in an NST article I wrote way back in 2000! Looking at it again, my views have not changed. Of course, since then more research have surfaced questioning the mistaken notion of separating children from their own parents at an ever younger and younger age. The prospect is just too horrible to imagine for parents who have had to deal with 2 or 3-year old kids traumatised by preschool education! Whatever happened to schooling readiness?

A UC Berkeley/Stanford report in particular finds that the earlier a child enters a preschool center, the slower his or her pace of social development. Cognitive skills in pre-reading and math do improve when children first enter a preschool program (at ages two and three) but this happens to the detriment of social and emotional development.(Read more here)

I do believe there are many ECE teachers who are wonderfully committed to helping young children succeed, and I say keep up the good work.  Yes, make schooling – preschool, playschool, kindergarten, primary school, etc – affordable and accessible. Do everything possible to ensure care and education is  available especially to at-risk children and disadvantaged families.  But give parents a choice. Our children don’t need a nanny when they already have their own mother and father.

Related posts on preschool and early education:

A child’s work is play
Preschool for a headstart?
Kicked out of kindy
Life in the fast lane
Finding balance in a hurried world

2